As a long-term, large-scale investor and catalyst of change, PIF is shaping future blueprints for living and working
As the investment engine driving economic transformation for Saudi Arabia and the world, PIF has moved beyond the “business as usual” of sovereign funds to create a new model for local and international investing. As a long-term, active investor, it was the first fund of its type to launch complex giga-projects on an unprecedented scale. Underlying its work is the aim of catalysing key sectors for human benefit, and to spark new growth and opportunity.
Indicating its considerable scale, PIF manages six pools of capital under the umbrella of one fund. Currently, it has approximately $925bn in assets under management, making it the world’s fifth largest sovereign wealth fund (SWF), with aims for its assets to exceed $1tn by 2025, and some $2tn by 2030.
Blueprints for living and working
Investing across 13 priority sectors in Saudi Arabia, as well as others globally, PIF has created 95 portfolio companies, and 1.1 million+ direct and indirect jobs created domestically and globally.
An example of this is the PIF-owned Red Sea Global, a portfolio of resorts along the country’s western coastline designed to launch Saudi Arabia’s global tourism sector by making virtually untouched islands accessible for sustainable travel experiences. The goal is to set a benchmark for responsible development, including regenerative development of nature reserves, constructed wetlands for wastewater treatment, and the world’s first solar-powered, zero-emissions 5G network.
Another PIF giga-project is NEOM, a 14-sector economic engine focused on developing cognitive cities that seek solutions to global challenges, harnessing the power of data, AI and cognitive computing. These include the projected 170km-long city of the future, THE LINE, which is designed to have neither streets nor cars, and to be carbon-neutral. NEOM’s progressive energy mandate includes the development of what will be the world’s largest green hydrogen plant.
Opportunities for growth
With its vision of creating long-term value and sustainable market outcomes, PIF is also helping to build Saudi Arabia’s automotive industry according to renewable energy goals. That includes creating new manufacturing capabilities, infrastructure and supply chains to generate jobs, enhancing private-sector engagement, and localising R&D and innovation.
Recently, the Saudi Electricity Company and PIF launched the Electric Vehicle Infrastructure Company with a target to install charging stations in more than 1,000 locations, addressing one of the most critical elements of EV adoption. Other portfolio companies driving the sector’s development include Ceer, the first Saudi EV brand, which is slated to produce 170,000 cars a year and generate some 30,000 direct and indirect jobs. In addition, the US luxury EV maker Lucid Group, in which PIF is an investor, opened its first overseas production factory in Saudi Arabia in 2023.
Spotting opportunities to accelerate high-potential markets is another growth strategy. The future development of King Salman International Airport in Riyadh, which will span 57 sq km, is complemented by PIF’s launch of flagship carrier Riyadh Air, which is expected to add $20bn to non-oil GDP growth and create hundreds of thousands of direct and indirect jobs in Saudi Arabia and the US.
Other projects designed for accelerated impact include PIF’s Savvy Games Group, which is geared to turn Saudi Arabia into a global hub for gaming and esports, the world’s largest entertainment sector. Further efforts to build the sports and entertainment sector are headed by SURJ Sports Investments, with its strategy of supporting global intellectual property and creating transformative technologies.
Other PIF companies aim to win a wider export market for Saudi Arabia’s food products while creating opportunities for local entrepreneurs and artisans. Examples include the Saudi Coffee Company, which fosters sustainable farming techniques; the Sawani Company, championing camel milk products as a dairy alternative; and the Al Madinah Heritage Company, a producer of prized ajwa dates, known for their rich flavour and nutritiousness. This is in addition to the broader efforts of the Saudi Agricultural and Livestock Investment Company (SALIC), PIF’s agribusiness investment arm, which stimulates the growth that enhances Saudi Arabia’s food security.
Driving transformation
Home ownership is the focus of ROSHN, another PIF giga-project. It aims to drive transformation by contributing to a national target to extend home ownership in Saudi Arabia to 70 per cent of the population. That will come through the construction of integrated, eco-conscious communities and by providing financial assistance. Qiddiya, for its part, is a destination city projected to become a capital of entertainment, sports and the arts.
As part of its commitment to Saudi Arabia’s sustainability agenda, PIF was the first SWF to issue a green bond, and the first-ever institution to issue a green bond with a 100-year maturity. Another signal of the fund’s creditworthiness came in February 2022, when both Fitch and fellow agency Moody’s awarded PIF its inaugural international credit ratings. In November 2023, Fitch affirmed PIF’s A+ issuer default ratings, highlighting the fund’s “very strong” status, ownership and control.
Confidence was also reflected in a string of IPOs, including oil and gas driller ADES, which raised $1.22bn in an IPO in Riyadh in 2023 – the biggest listing in Saudi Arabia last year. PIF is invested in a new future, pioneering models to spur prosperity and better living – now and in the future – by driving economies locally and around the world.